Typewriter

I want a typewriter. I want to unplug from the digital world for a while and reconnect with the physical.

As a kid, I used my grandfather’s portable manual typewriter to produce newspapers, menus, play programs, and all the other essential printed matter of my fantasies.

One of my first purchases as a working teenager was an electric typewriter. I typed out every issue of the West Hazleton High School “We-Ha” during my tenure as editor, then I carried it with me to university and used it for all my papers. And a few play programs.

But those old machines are both gone, as is the early 20th century Royal I found at a flea market. Now it’s just me and the computers.

And I’m dissatisfied. I’d like to write without being distracted by incoming e-mail, IM, and RSS feed updates. You’re thinking, “Well, don’t launch those programs when you write.” But I get antsy wondering might be missing some key communication. Does someone want to go to lunch with me? Have any of my friends updated their weblogs? Critical information—who’d want to miss that?

I’d like to return to fact-checking by referring to books instead of Google. My capacity to store facts and trivia was once legend, but has dwindled to nearly nothing. My brain is full of key-combinations to effect changes in my documents, but I can’t remember the population of Tokyo or recall when I should use ‘effect’ or ‘affect.’

Ironically, I’ve just purchased a new G5 with an amazingly large screen so that I can do my video editing in double-quick time. It arrives in 5 weeks. I’m doomed.

Posted by kuri at July 26, 2004 10:51 AM